The use of unlicensed communication frequency bands for IEEE 802.11 wireless local area networks has enabled wireless network usage to expand in a very pervasive manner in the consumer and enterprise arenas. However, the 802.11 devices need to share the band with other non-802.11 devices that are not within the wireless local area network.
In a peer-to-peer environment, the peer-to-peer communications may interfere with non-802.11 devices. Typically, peer-to-peer mobile devices are not capable of detecting signals from the non-802.11 devices. Therefore, the peer-to-peer mobile devices are not capable of actively avoiding communication frequency bands being used by the non-802.11 devices. Currently, the peer-to-peer devices are precluded from using certain types of frequency bands or communications channels to avoid interfering with non-802.11 devices. However, this approach limits the amount of bands that are available for peer-to-peer wireless local area network connections.